Why did Sony kill off its Aibo robot dog?

Because Aibo isn't a band or a film, and it can't play or record music or films. Essentially, Sir Howard Stringer, the new boss at the Japanese multinational, is trying to focus the company on areas that will generate cash and, more importantly, profits, and the robotics unit that created Aibo, launched in 1999, was put to sleep in the process.

Also killed off as Sony announced shining results was Qrio, a humanoid robot that can walk on two legs but had never been sold commercially; and, separately, the cathode-ray tube and plasma TV operations, which aren't thriving either.

Though the Aibo was very popular - 150,000 were sold - it never went on sale in the UK, and the robotics division only produced about $40m to $80m revenue.

The cull, announced last week, shocked Aibo fans, who were drooling only last September over the third-generation version of the robot dog with a camera in its eye that could be used to recognise its owner and record images, while its personality could be reprogrammed from lovable to mischievous.

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